Living Grimoire

The living grimoire literally wields the sacred word of his deity, using his holy tome to smite the foes of his god with divine might. Unlike most inquisitors, a living grimoire focuses on careful study of divine scripture, valuing knowledge over intuition.

Holy Book (Su)

At 1st (level, a living grimoire forms a supernatural bond with a large ironbound tome containing the holy text of his deity and learns to use it as a weapon.

When wielding the holy book as a weapon, he deals base damage as if it were a cold iron light mace (but see Sacred Word below), is considered proficient with the book, takes no improvised weapon penalty, and gains a +1 bonus on attack rolls with the book. The tome serves as his holy symbol and divine focus, and can be enchanted as a magic weapon.

He can replace his bonded tome with another book at any time, though he must perform a 24-hour binding ritual to attune himself to the new book.

Spellcasting

A living grimoire must prepare his spells ahead of time, and can know any number of inquisitor spells. He uses Intelligence instead of Wisdom as his key spellcasting ability score (to determine his spell DCs, bonus spells per day, modifier on concentration checks, and so on), and to determine the effects and number of uses of his domain powers.

The living grimoire receives the same number of spell slots per day as a warpriest of his inquisitor level, and receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Intelligence score. He must choose and prepare his spells ahead of time by choosing a time each day for 1 hour of quiet contemplation while he studies his holy book.

At 1st (level, the living grimoire’s holy book contains all 0-level inquisitor spells plus three 1st-level inquisitor spells of his choice. He also selects a number of additional 1st-level inquisitor spells equal to his Intelligence modifier to add to his holy book. At each new inquisitor level, he gains two new inquisitor spells of any spell levels he can cast (based on his new inquisitor level) for his holy book. At any time, he can learn inquisitor spells from scrolls or other written sources and add inquisitor spells he finds to his holy book.

This ability alters orisons and spellcasting and replaces cunning initiative.

Sacred Word (Su)

At 1st (level, a living grimoire learns to charge his holy book with the power of his faith. The inquisitor gains the benefits of the warpriest’s sacred weapon class ability, but the benefits apply only to his bonded holy book. Like a warpriest’s sacred weapon, the living grimoire’s book deals damage based on the inquisitor’s level, not the book’s base damage (unless the inquisitor chooses to use the book’s base damage).

At 4th level, the living grimoire gains the ability to enhance his holy book with divine power as a swift action. This ability grants the holy book a +1 enhancement bonus. For every 4 inquisitor levels the living grimoire has beyond 4th, this bonus increases by 1 (to a maximum of +5 at 20th level).

These bonuses stack with any existing bonuses the holy book might have, to a maximum of +5. The living grimoire can enhance his holy book to have any of the special abilities listed in the warpriest’s sacred weapon ability, subject to the same alignment restrictions, but adds bane to the general special ability list. Adding any of these special abilities to the holy book consumes an amount of enhancement bonus equal to the special ability’s base price modifier. The holy book must have at least a +1 enhancement bonus before the living grimoire can add any special abilities to it. The living grimoire can use this ability a number of rounds per day equal to his inquisitor level, but these rounds don’t need to be consecutive. As with the warpriest sacred weapon ability, he determines the enhancement bonus and special abilities the first time he uses the ability each day, and they cannot be changed until the next day.

Blessed Script (Su)

At 5th level, a living grimoire can permanently tattoo one spell of 2nd level or lower from his holy book onto his body. The tattooed spell cannot have an expensive material component or focus. The living grimoire can prepare any tattooed spell without needing his holy book, and can cast his tattooed spells as a spell-like ability once per day.

At 8th level, the living grimoire can tattoo one additional spell of 3rd level or lower upon himself. At 12th level, he can tattoo one additional spell of 4th level or lower upon himself, and at 16th level he can tattoo a final additional spell of any level upon himself.

Word of God (Su)

At 20th level, a living grimoire can smite his foes with the holy word of his deity. Up to seven times per day, the inquisitor can make a single melee attack with his holy book against a target. If the attack hits, it deals damage normally and the target must succeed at a Fortitude save or die (DC = 10 + 1/2 the living grimoire’s inquisitor level + his Intelligence modifier). Regardless of whether the save is successful, the target creature is immune to the living grimoire’s word of god ability for 24 hours. Once the living grimoire uses this ability, he can’t use it again for 1d4 rounds.